MYTHICAL TREASURE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 744, 17 August 1929, Page 13

MYTHICAL TREASURE

STORY OF SHIP AND SILVER SPOILS OF MEXICAN WARS Edward Emile Jochen, aged 46, a builder’s contractor, an American citizen, staying at the Hotel Metropole, in London, was charged at Bow Street recently with obtaining £I,OOO by false pretences from Mr. Marie Auguste Jacques Penellier, a bullion merchant, of Gray’s Inn Road, W.C. Jochen, it has been stated, claimed to have control of a treasure ship laden with silver to the value of £5,000,000. It was said to have been described by him as the spoils of war, and to have been amassed by the late President Obregon, of Mexico. The £I,OOO was paid by Mr. Penellier in the course of negotiations for the purchase of the silver. The prosecution alleged that the ship was a mythical galleon. Mr. Penellier, continuing his evidence. said that when he saw Jochen on one occasion Jochen brought with him two pieces of silver which he said he had cut from a bar in the cargo. One of these pieces was produced in court.

“As soon as I saw it,” Mr. Penellier added, “I knew it was a fraud. If his story were true, that this silver had been in the ship for 18 months or two years, it would never be as bright as this.”

Mr. Percy Robinson, for Jochen, said that Joehen’s previous solicitor had notified him that he was not prepared to continue conducting his case. He was not prepared to cross-examine at this stage. Colonel Walter Grant Morden. M.P., said that he was introduced to Jochen in New York in March or April last year. Jochen told him that he had a cargo of silver belonging to some Mexicans and that he had entered into arrangements with a Mr. Scott for the sale of it. He did not say if Mr. Scott had made any payment. Mr. Vernon Gattie (prosecuting): I think your only interest was in connection with Mr. Anderson?—Yes. Jochen asked me if I would guarantee that any agreement made with Mr. Anderson in London would be carried out. He wanted an assurance that Mr.

Anderson was a man who would carry out any undertaking he gave, and I gave a written guarantee that the proceeds should be paid into my bank. I knew everything was all right, and I guaranteed Mr. Anderson's agreement. Mr. Anderson was to sell the silver and I was to be a surety for Mr. Anderson. You have not lost any money over this matter? —No. Was any silver ever delivered?—No, Colonel Grant Morden said he believed that a Mr. Clarke, whom he knew, chartered a ship for the pur-; pose of trying to find the treasure ship, but he did not know anything of j the arrangements. In May or June last certain facts came to his knowledge about the supposed cargo, and in consequence he immediately communicated with Scotland Yard. Mr. Thomas Milne Stephen, manager of the North of Scotland Bauk, Lothbury, E.C., said that Mr. Clarke, a customer of the bank, entered into a charter party, and a vessel sailed I‘or the purpose of inspecting the silver. It was supposed to be in a ship off the south-west coast of England. The Magistrate: What was the object of the visit?- —The silver was j to be transhipped from one vessel to '■ another. I don’t know the object. It seems very odd. The whole story is an odd one. Was the treasure ship 1 ever sighted?—The vessel returned ! without having sighted the ship or the silver. Is she still looking for it?—She came back at the expiration of a month. The hearing was adjourned. Mr. Robinson said that Jochen’s wife was stranded, and asked that the £3OO found upon him should be given up to her. The magistrate refused to make any order.